FBI Originally Said Hillary Was ‘Grossly Negligent’ With Secret Emails

Former FBI Director James Comey removed language from his 2016 statement on Hillary Clinton’s email scandal that accused the former secretary of state of gross negligence in using a private server for her official emails, according to a top Republican senator.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa has previously said that long before Clinton and several top aides had been interviewed, Comey was suggesting that Clinton should not be prosecuted.

In Comey’s final public statement, he said Clinton and her aides were “extremely careless” in handling classified information.

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Comey explained his reasoning by saying that although gross negligence might seem to warrant prosecution, he could not prove Clinton knew how much of a risk her conduct posed to national security.

“Although Director Comey’s original version of his statement acknowledged that Secretary Clinton had violated the statute prohibiting gross negligence in the handling of classified information, he nonetheless exonerated her in that early, May 2nd draft statement anyway, arguing that this part of the statute should not be enforced,” Grassley wrote in a letter to current FBI Director Christopher Wray.

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“There is evidence to support a conclusion that Secretary Clinton, and others, used the private email server in a manner that was grossly negligent with respect to the handling of classified material,” the May 2 draft reads in one section.

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Similar language is also used elsewhere.

“Similarly, the sheer volume of information that was properly classified as Secret at the time it was discussed on email (that is, excluding the ‘up classified’ emails) supports an inference that the participants were grossly negligent in their handling of that information,” Comey’s May 2 draft said.

Grassley said in the letter that the words “grossly negligent” remained in the draft for several weeks.

“Apparently, as of May 2016, then-Director Comey and other FBI officials believed the facts fit that gross negligence standard until later edits were made on or about June 10, 2016,” Grassley wrote.

At that time, the language of the statement underwent a major change.

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“Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information,” the draft was changed to read.

Grassley told Wray in the letter he now wants to see all the various changes to the statement in order to see why they were made. He also asked for metadata to show who made the different changes to the document.

Grassley, in collaboration with fellow Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, demanded in August to know about the development of the statement, having learned that Comey was preparing a statement clearing Clinton even though many witnesses had not been contacted by the FBI in its investigation.

“Conclusion first, fact-gathering second—that’s no way to run an investigation. The FBI should be held to a higher standard than that, especially in a matter of such great public interest and controversy,” Grassley and Graham wrote in their August letter, according to Politico.